Oregon reports first probable case of monkeypox in the state

[HIV-AIDS now MONKEYPOX!]

In article <ruv8aj$1ffl$***@neodome.net>
***@panix.com (Bradley K. Sherman) wrote:

PORTLAND, Ore. — Oregon is reporting its first possible human
case of monkeypox as other cases of the virus are cropping up
across the United States.

The Oregon Health Authority reported the probable case of hMPXV
in the state Thursday, saying the patient is a man who had
traveled to a community of confirmed cases.

He is in isolation and following the guidance of health and
medical staff, while the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) confirms the case with further tests.

Monkeypox is a rare but potentially serious viral illness that
can be transmitted from person to person through direct contact
with body fluid or monkeypox lesions, according to the CDC.

“hMPXV does not spread easily between people, so the risk to
other people is generally very low,” said Dr. Richard Leman,
Public Health Physician with OHA. “Unlike COVID-19, which can be
spread easily from person to person through the air over several
feet of space, hMPXV spreads between people primarily through
direct contact with infectious sores, scabs, or body fluids.
Less commonly, it can be spread by respiratory secretions during
prolonged face-to-face contact.”

Washington state health officials reported a case in King County
back on May 23 in a person who had recently traveled abroad.

While in the same group of viruses as smallpox, health officials
say hMPXV is much harder to catch and is less severe than
smallpox.

"There are two strains of this virus, and the one that’s
circulating now causes milder disease," the OHA said.

Most people are recovering at home without any special
treatment. Additionally, there have been no deaths reported
nationwide.
According to the OHA, people have historically become infected
by handling wild animals, however, it can also be transmitted
through person-to-person contact.

They say this can be through "prolonged, close contact, either
skin-to-skin, contact with fluid from hMPXV lesions, or less
commonly from large respiratory droplets."

“An ill person who coughs or sneezes on someone else could
possibly spread the infection. However, most transmission in the
current outbreak appears to be from prolonged, skin-to-skin
contact,” Dr. Leman said.

More from the Oregon Health Authority:
What are the symptoms?

Initial symptoms of hMPXV often include fever, headache and
muscle aches. These symptoms are followed in one to three days
by a rash, often on the face, spreading to the limbs. The rash
starts with flat patches that then form large, firm bumps, which
then fill with fluid or pus. These then scab and fall off,
usually over two to four weeks. Symptoms usually start within
seven to 14 days after exposure, with a range of five to 21 days.

When can a person ill with hMPXV spread it to others?

Ill people can potentially transmit the infection from when
symptoms start until the rash has resolved. However, this is not
an easy infection to catch. hMPXV typically requires prolonged,
close contact. People at increased risk include sexual partners
of an ill person, or family members and healthcare workers
caring for someone ill with hMPXV.

Are there vaccines for hMPXV?

There is a vaccine specifically for hMPXV and smallpox called
Jynneos. It could be used to protect people with high-risk
exposure to someone ill with hMPXV. There is another vaccine,
ACAM2000, that is approved to prevent smallpox. It could be used
under special arrangements with CDC, but it is more likely to
cause adverse effects.

Vaccines would be used to protect people who have known exposure
to someone ill with hMPXV infection. It works to prevent or
decrease disease even after someone was exposed. Members of the
public who haven’t been exposed don’t need this vaccine.

How is OHA responding to the outbreak?

Currently, there are 84 cases across 18 states, no deaths and
one case in Oregon.

OHA is working with community partners to share information
about hMPXV, the outbreak and infection prevention strategies
with people who might be at increased risk of infection. OHA is
sharing information with clinicians about the outbreak, how to
recognize and test for hMPXV illness and how to prevent spread.

For more information on hMPXV, visit this FAQ page.

Click here for CDC information on hMPXV, social gatherings and
safer sex.

Here are images of hMPXV.

Click here to see why the World Health Organization (WHO) wants
to give monkeypox a new name.

Because only GAY NIGGERS and WHITE faggots who have sex with
them are getting MONKEYPOX.

https://katu.com/news/local/oregon-health-authority-reports-
first-probable-case-of-monkeypox-hmpxv-in-the-state-oha-cdc-
transmission

[HIV-AIDS now MONKEYPOX!]

In article <rv291b$scr$***@neodome.net>
***@panix.com (Bradley K. Sherman) wrote:

A disproportionate number of cases in the recent monkeypox
outbreak have shown up among gay and bisexual men. And as public-
health authorities investigate possible links to sexual or other
close physical contact at a Pride event in the Canary Islands, a
sauna in Madrid, and other gay venues in Europe, government
officials are trying hard not to single out a group that endured
terrible stigma at the height of America’s AIDS crisis.

“Experience shows that stigmatizing rhetoric can quickly disable
evidence-based response by stoking cycles of fear, driving
people away from health services, impeding efforts to identify
cases, and encouraging ineffective, punitive measures,” Matthew
Kavanagh, the deputy executive director of the Joint United
Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, recently said. For many years,
following the outbreak of HIV, the fear of being judged or
shamed has dissuaded some gay men from being tested.

But as a gay man who studies the history of infectious disease,
I worry that public-health leaders are not doing enough to
directly alert men who have sex with men about monkeypox. Gay
men are not the only people at risk, but they do need to know
that, right now, the condition appears to be spreading most
actively within their community. In recent days, CDC officials
have been acknowledging this forthrightly. Director Rochelle
Walensky noted Thursday that, of the nine monkeypox cases
identified in the United States as of midweek, most were among
men who have sex with men.

Read: So, have you heard of monkeypox?

Yet many other well-intentioned officials appear fearful of
saying something homophobic, and news outlets have published
articles emphasizing that monkeypox is “not a gay disease.”
Their caution is warranted, but health agencies are putting gay
men at risk unless they prioritize them for interventions such
as public-awareness campaigns, vaccines, and tests.

Monkeypox, which is related to smallpox and causes symptoms that
include a rash, had not previously been viewed as a sexually
transmitted infection, but many people who have contracted the
disease recently have exhibited symptoms, such as lesions around
the genitals or the anus, consistent with sexual transmission.
Public-health officials need to work with gay-community health
centers and other LGBTQ organizations to deliver information
about monkeypox symptoms to doctors and their patients.

Although gay activist groups and clinics may be carefully
monitoring the outbreak, I am concerned about gay men in areas
where doctors may be unaware of the pathophysiology of the
virus. Therefore, public-health agencies should also press gay
social-media apps and other online platforms to tell their users
that men who have sex with men have been disproportionately
infected by the virus. These outreach efforts should pay
particular attention to the most marginalized people who might
be at risk. In the past, HIV prevention and treatment efforts
reached white men but not the large number of men of color and
working-class and poor men who became infected with that virus.

Read: The LGBT health movement, 40 years since homosexuality was
a mental illness - It STILL IS A MENTAL ILLNESS.

For the moment, both the media and public officials continue to
frame monkeypox as rare. I understand the instinct not to
overreact. Yet though the number of documented cases remains
small, the presumption that the outbreak is an anomaly is
precisely what misled medical authorities, journalists, and even
gay people themselves 40 years ago, when HIV first entered the
headlines. AIDS was routinely framed as an unusual disorder
among a small cluster of gay men in San Francisco and New York,
but the pathogen that caused it had already circulated far more
widely. I worry that we are making the same mistakes we did when
HIV first began to surface.

The United States is still dealing with the baggage of the
HIV/AIDS crisis. In the 1980s and early 1990s, confusion
reigned, and some Americans worried needlessly about having
incidental contact or even being in the same room with a person
with AIDS. Public-health campaigns tried to ease anxiety by
creating subway ads that showed both gay and straight couples
kissing to emphasize that HIV didn’t spread that way or talking
about condoms to promote safer sex. These efforts were useful;
putting out reliable information about how a virus is
transmitted, and how it can be avoided, is essential to
protecting public health.

However, for fear of stirring up animus against gay men,
officials today may be underplaying the role of sexual
transmission in recent monkeypox cases.

Viruses spread as a direct result of physical and social
conditions. COVID-19 has a greater chance of spreading in a
crowded indoor environment than along a hiking trail. Similarly,
monkeypox doesn’t require sexual contact but is prone to spread
in situations where people with exposed skin are together in
close quarters. Like HIV, monkeypox does not check your sexual
odometer; the virus doesn’t count the number of partners
everyone has and then latch on to those with the largest number.
It does seek opportunities to spread—and some queer spaces,
particularly where people meet for sex, have created the
conditions that allow that to happen.

The premises where gay people congregate closely have helped
define the community. When public-health authorities shut down
bathhouses during the early days of HIV, many gay people saw the
closures as a violation of their growing liberation. (By
contrast, in March 2020, when public-health officials shut down
movie theaters and stadiums, many Americans were sad to see
these venues temporarily close, but they were not essential to
anyone’s fundamental identity.) Although I am not suggesting
that governments impose restrictions on queer spaces, health
agencies ought to tell gay men that monkeypox may indeed be
spreading sexually.

Authorities need to be able to send that message without
moralizing about patrons’ behavior. Historically, when public
health is under threat, the urge to judge and shame has been
strong—as both the HIV/AIDS crisis and COVID-19 have shown.
Especially before coronavirus vaccines were available, people
sharply criticized one another on social media or in person even
for harmless behaviors, such as going to the beach or jogging
outdoors without a mask.

But both health officials and the public need to be able to
differentiate between using a virus to pathologize an entire
community and acknowledging that certain physical and social
conditions genuinely do pose a higher risk of infection. Giving
gay men carefully tailored warnings about monkeypox risk can be
a form of education, not a form of stigma.

Rather than treating bathhouses, clubs, and dance parties
exclusively as spreaders of infectious diseases, they should be
recognized as potential promoters of sexual health. For decades,
it was common to find a bucket of a condoms at the entrance of
many bars, alongside posters and leaflets with information about
safe sex. LGBTQ organizers have ample practice with informing
their communities about a possible health threat and championing
safe-sex practices.

Public-health officials should activate those resources rather
than tiptoeing around the issue. If gay men are at risk from the
monkeypox outbreak, we need to be told that explicitly—instead
of being told that the condition is rare and mostly happening in
other parts of the world.

Black and gay, you will pay.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/05/monkeypox-
outbreak-spread-gay-bisexual-men/643122/

[HIV-AIDS now MONKEYPOX!]

In article <rv2918$scr$***@neodome.net>
***@panix.com (Bradley K. Sherman) wrote:

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued new
sex guidance for people who think they might have been exposed
to monkeypox — and it includes socially distanced masturbation
to avoid spreading the virus.

The "social gatherings, safer sex, and monkeypox" CDC
precautions were issued earlier this month.

If a person or their partner has monkeypox or believes they have
contracted the disease and they decide to have sex, the CDC
recommends that they "avoid kissing" and "masturbate together at
a distance of at least 6 feet, without touching each other and
without touching any rash or sores."

The CDC also advises that those who have been exposed to
monkeypox have "virtual sex" or "consider having sex with your
clothes on or covering areas where rash or sores are present,
reducing as much skin-to-skin contact as possible."

Additionally, the CDC recommends that those potentially infected
with monkeypox "wash your hands, fetish gear, sex toys and any
fabrics (bedding, towels, clothing) after having sex."

"Limit your number of partners to avoid opportunities for
monkeypox to spread," the CDC says.

The current outbreak of monkeypox — a rare viral infection that
primarily occurs in Central and West Africa — has recently been
detected across the globe, including in Europe and the United
States.

Monkeypox can cause flu-like symptoms, including fever and
muscle aches, and can prompt rashes and pus-filled boils that
cover the body.

It can spread to anyone through "close, personal, often skin-to-
skin contact," the CDC said.

The CDC says that "direct contact with monkeypox rash, sores, or
scabs from a person with monkeypox" is believed to currently be
"the most common way that monkeypox is spreading in the US."

Monkeypox symptoms typically start within two weeks of exposure
to the virus, according to the health agency.

According to the latest CDC data, the federal agency has
confirmed 100 cases of monkeypox in the US, with California
having the majority of cases at 21, followed by New York with 17
cases.

There are more than 2,100 monkeypox cases globally across 37
countries, CDC data shows.

Black and gay, you will pay.

https://www.insider.com/cdc-monkeypox-sex-advice-socially-
distanced-masturbation-2022-6

[HIV-AIDS now MONKEYPOX!]

In article <rutfp7$v2k$***@dont-email.me>
***@panix.com (Bradley K. Sherman) wrote:

OKLAHOMA CITY —
The Oklahoma State Department of Health identified the state's
second probable case of monkeypox.

Health department officials said in a news release that the
second probable case was identified in a central Oklahoma
resident with recent international travel to a country with
confirmed cases. The person is in isolation, and the Oklahoma
State Department of Health is investigating and conducting
contact tracing.

This probable case has no connection or relation to the first
case of monkeypox identified in Oklahoma the week of June 6,
authorities said in the news release. The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention later confirmed the initial monkeypox
case.

"We knew there was a possibility of more cases being identified
in the state," State Epidemiologist Jolianne Stone said in the
news release. "Our response team remains activated and continues
to coordinate various areas within the agency to respond as
necessary when a case arises."

Health officials said monkeypox is not easily transmissible, but
the virus can be transmitted to humans through direct, physical
contact with an infected person or animal. Monkeypox also can be
transmitted from person to person through large respiratory
droplets or through direct contact with body fluids.

Symptoms may include fever, rash and swollen lymph nodes. The
news release says an infected person will also present with
firm, deep-seated and well-circumscribed lesions.

https://www.koco.com/article/oklahoma-second-probable-monkeypox-
case/40321781

[HIV-AIDS now MONKEYPOX!]

In article <rutdlg$1l5c$***@neodome.net>
***@panix.com (Bradley K. Sherman) wrote:

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. —
The Florida Department of Health announced Friday that Orange
County has reported its first case of monkeypox.

The health department states the case in Orange County is a
person in his or her 30s who did not acquire monkeypox from
travel. The patient is now in isolation.

This is not the first case in Florida. The health department has
previously reported eight cases in Broward County and one in
Collier County.

The virus is only spread through very close contact.

Doctors say the early symptoms are like the flu: fever and
chills, but then a rash can start on the face and move all over
the body.

The rash can move across your palms, your soles, as well as
sometimes inside your mouth. These rashes sometimes can be
painful as well.

"Most people do recover from monkeypox without any issues at
all, sometimes it takes two to four weeks to get full recovery
of it," Dr. Rajiv Bahl in Orlando said.

The World Health Organization is creating a new vaccine-sharing
mechanism to stop the spiraling outbreak of monkeypox in more
than 30 countries beyond Africa.

The move could result in the U.N. health agency distributing
scarce vaccine doses to rich countries that otherwise can afford
them.

To some health experts, the initiative potentially misses the
opportunity to control monkeypox in the African countries where
it’s infected people for decades.

They say the program might repeat the inequity in vaccine
distribution that was seen during the coronavirus pandemic.

The mechanism was proposed shortly after Britain, Canada,
France, Germany, the U.S. and other countries reported hundreds
of monkeypox cases last month.

https://www.wesh.com/article/monkeypox-orange-county/40320693

[HIV-AIDS now MONKEYPOX!]

In article <rv2918$scr$***@neodome.net>
***@panix.com (Bradley K. Sherman) wrote:

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - The Southern Nevada Health District
reported its first probable monkeypox case in Clark County
Wednesday.

SNHD said they are reporting a presumptive positive case in a
Clark County resident with recent domestic travel history. The
individual is a man in his 20s who did not require
hospitalization and is isolating at home, SNHD said.

The Health District said they are conducting contact tracing. No
additional cases have been identified at this time.

SNHD said they are working with the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention to perform confirmatory testing.

Monkeypox spreads from person to person through close physical
contact with infection monkeypox sores, bodily fluids, contact
with objects or fabrics that were used by someone with
monkeypox, sexual contact, or prolonged face-to-face contact,
according to SNHD.

SNHD said monkeypox risk is low in the U.S. People with unknown
lesions or rashes should contact their health care provider and
avoid sex during that time, SNHD said.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Black and gay, you will pay.

https://www.kolotv.com/2022/06/15/health-district-reports-first-
case-monkeypox-southern-nevada/

[HIV-AIDS now MONKEYPOX!]

In article <***@95.216.243.224>
***@panix.com (Bradley K. Sherman) wrote:

A theory that the recent outbreak of monkeypox may be tied to
sexual activity has put the gay community in an unfortunate
position, having fought back against previous and continued
stigma around HIV and AIDS, an LGBTQ2S+ centre director says.

David Hawkins, executive director of the West Island LGBTQ2+
Centre in Beaconsfield, Que., told CTV News Channel on Saturday
that the situation is frustrating, and he worries the
conversation around monkeypox will indirectly impact and
stigmatize the LGBTQ2S+ — lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender,
queer, two-spirit and other — community yet again.

"We have very strong community organizations that are working to
destigmatize HIV and AIDS still, and they still have a lot of
work to do and they're doing that work, but I think the reality
is, is that we may also need to start having this conversation
about monkeypox," Hawkins said.

A number of western countries, including Canada, have reported
cases of monkeypox.

Black and gay, you will pay.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/monkeypox-fears-could-stigmatize-
lgbtq2s-community-expert-says-1.5915135

[HIV-AIDS now MONKEYPOX!]

In article <rv2m89$2hq0$***@neodome.net>
***@panix.com (Bradley K. Sherman) wrote:

In Chicago last month, thousands of gay men gathered for the
first time in three years for the annual International Mr.
Leather conference, a four-day-long affair where men from all
over the world gathered to strut their stuff in leather gear,
have lots of sex, and compete to be named International Mr.
Leather. IML is like the Miss America pageant, except those
working the runway are clad in harnesses. (This year, the honor
went to Gael Leung Chong Wo of Belgium.)

I found myself very concerned about the event in part because,
even by the low standards of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, community spread of SARS-CoV-2 was “high” in
Chicago, causing uncontrollable community spread of that virus.
Of course, gay men coming and going from around the world for a
conference isn’t any more or less worrisome than any large group
gathering indoors. Enragingly, the Society for Epidemiologic
Research is also meeting in Chicago soon, despite the latest
coronavirus surge. Graduations, weddings, concerts and banquets
are churning on indoors, as if 10,000 people a month aren’t
still dying of COVID.

But more specifically, I was worried about monkeypox (MPX)
making an appearance at IML, as I am concerned about it making
its way through LGBTQ Pride events and circuit parties this
month. Monkeypox has largely been found in Western and Central
Africa in the last few decades. And while it is endemic there in
rodents, several African countries have developed excellent
public health practices to minimize outbreaks among humans,
which Europeans and North Americans have largely neglected.
African countries do not have an ample supply of stockpiled
pharmaceutical vaccines and antiretrovirals. But, as Science
reported, countries like Nigeria use the kinds of effective
nonpharmaceutical interventions with MPX that the United States
and Europe have largely eschewed with the novel coronavirus:
putting the effort in to perform surveillance, helping affected
people isolate, sequencing viruses to track spread and sharing
their findings with others.

Black and gay, you will pay.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/blaming-gay-men-for-
monkeypox-will-harm-everyone/

[HIV-AIDS now MONKEYPOX!]

In article <rv2dcl$2qnk$***@neodome.net>
***@panix.com (Bradley K. Sherman) wrote:

A disproportionate number of cases in the recent monkeypox
outbreak have shown up among gay and bisexual men. And as public-
health authorities investigate possible links to sexual or other
close physical contact at a Pride event in the Canary Islands, a
sauna in Madrid, and other gay venues in Europe, government
officials are trying hard not to single out a group that endured
terrible stigma at the height of America’s AIDS crisis.

“Experience shows that stigmatizing rhetoric can quickly disable
evidence-based response by stoking cycles of fear, driving
people away from health services, impeding efforts to identify
cases, and encouraging ineffective, punitive measures,” Matthew
Kavanagh, the deputy executive director of the Joint United
Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, recently said. For many years,
following the outbreak of HIV, the fear of being judged or
shamed has dissuaded some gay men from being tested.

But as a gay man who studies the history of infectious disease,
I worry that public-health leaders are not doing enough to
directly alert men who have sex with men about monkeypox. Gay
men are not the only people at risk, but they do need to know
that, right now, the condition appears to be spreading most
actively within their community. In recent days, CDC officials
have been acknowledging this forthrightly. Director Rochelle
Walensky noted Thursday that, of the nine monkeypox cases
identified in the United States as of midweek, most were among
men who have sex with men.

Read: So, have you heard of monkeypox?

Yet many other well-intentioned officials appear fearful of
saying something homophobic, and news outlets have published
articles emphasizing that monkeypox is “not a gay disease.”
Their caution is warranted, but health agencies are putting gay
men at risk unless they prioritize them for interventions such
as public-awareness campaigns, vaccines, and tests.

Monkeypox, which is related to smallpox and causes symptoms that
include a rash, had not previously been viewed as a sexually
transmitted infection, but many people who have contracted the
disease recently have exhibited symptoms, such as lesions around
the genitals or the anus, consistent with sexual transmission.
Public-health officials need to work with gay-community health
centers and other LGBTQ organizations to deliver information
about monkeypox symptoms to doctors and their patients.

Although gay activist groups and clinics may be carefully
monitoring the outbreak, I am concerned about gay men in areas
where doctors may be unaware of the pathophysiology of the
virus. Therefore, public-health agencies should also press gay
social-media apps and other online platforms to tell their users
that men who have sex with men have been disproportionately
infected by the virus. These outreach efforts should pay
particular attention to the most marginalized people who might
be at risk. In the past, HIV prevention and treatment efforts
reached white men but not the large number of men of color and
working-class and poor men who became infected with that virus.

Read: The LGBT health movement, 40 years since homosexuality was
a mental illness - It STILL IS A MENTAL ILLNESS.

For the moment, both the media and public officials continue to
frame monkeypox as rare. I understand the instinct not to
overreact. Yet though the number of documented cases remains
small, the presumption that the outbreak is an anomaly is
precisely what misled medical authorities, journalists, and even
gay people themselves 40 years ago, when HIV first entered the
headlines. AIDS was routinely framed as an unusual disorder
among a small cluster of gay men in San Francisco and New York,
but the pathogen that caused it had already circulated far more
widely. I worry that we are making the same mistakes we did when
HIV first began to surface.

The United States is still dealing with the baggage of the
HIV/AIDS crisis. In the 1980s and early 1990s, confusion
reigned, and some Americans worried needlessly about having
incidental contact or even being in the same room with a person
with AIDS. Public-health campaigns tried to ease anxiety by
creating subway ads that showed both gay and straight couples
kissing to emphasize that HIV didn’t spread that way or talking
about condoms to promote safer sex. These efforts were useful;
putting out reliable information about how a virus is
transmitted, and how it can be avoided, is essential to
protecting public health.

However, for fear of stirring up animus against gay men,
officials today may be underplaying the role of sexual
transmission in recent monkeypox cases.

Viruses spread as a direct result of physical and social
conditions. COVID-19 has a greater chance of spreading in a
crowded indoor environment than along a hiking trail. Similarly,
monkeypox doesn’t require sexual contact but is prone to spread
in situations where people with exposed skin are together in
close quarters. Like HIV, monkeypox does not check your sexual
odometer; the virus doesn’t count the number of partners
everyone has and then latch on to those with the largest number.
It does seek opportunities to spread—and some queer spaces,
particularly where people meet for sex, have created the
conditions that allow that to happen.

The premises where gay people congregate closely have helped
define the community. When public-health authorities shut down
bathhouses during the early days of HIV, many gay people saw the
closures as a violation of their growing liberation. (By
contrast, in March 2020, when public-health officials shut down
movie theaters and stadiums, many Americans were sad to see
these venues temporarily close, but they were not essential to
anyone’s fundamental identity.) Although I am not suggesting
that governments impose restrictions on queer spaces, health
agencies ought to tell gay men that monkeypox may indeed be
spreading sexually.

Authorities need to be able to send that message without
moralizing about patrons’ behavior. Historically, when public
health is under threat, the urge to judge and shame has been
strong—as both the HIV/AIDS crisis and COVID-19 have shown.
Especially before coronavirus vaccines were available, people
sharply criticized one another on social media or in person even
for harmless behaviors, such as going to the beach or jogging
outdoors without a mask.

But both health officials and the public need to be able to
differentiate between using a virus to pathologize an entire
community and acknowledging that certain physical and social
conditions genuinely do pose a higher risk of infection. Giving
gay men carefully tailored warnings about monkeypox risk can be
a form of education, not a form of stigma.

Rather than treating bathhouses, clubs, and dance parties
exclusively as spreaders of infectious diseases, they should be
recognized as potential promoters of sexual health. For decades,
it was common to find a bucket of a condoms at the entrance of
many bars, alongside posters and leaflets with information about
safe sex. LGBTQ organizers have ample practice with informing
their communities about a possible health threat and championing
safe-sex practices.

Public-health officials should activate those resources rather
than tiptoeing around the issue. If gay men are at risk from the
monkeypox outbreak, we need to be told that explicitly—instead
of being told that the condition is rare and mostly happening in
other parts of the world.

Black and gay, you will pay.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/05/monkeypox-
outbreak-spread-gay-bisexual-men/643122/

[HIV-AIDS now MONKEYPOX!]

In article <ab9b3aed-9c58-46a6-b20d-
***@googlegroups.com>
***@panix.com (Bradley K. Sherman) wrote:

Americans who think they might have been exposed to monkeypox
should take precautions like masturbating 6 feet apart from
their partner to prevent the spread of the virus, according to
health officials.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this
month issued a list of safe activities for sexually active
patients to engage in. Among the recommendations are avoiding
kissing and “having sex with your clothes on or covering areas
where rash or sores are present.”

Patients and prospective patients are also advised to “wash your
hands, fetish gear, sex toys and any fabrics” after having sex
and “masturbate together at a distance of at least 6 feet,
without touching each other and without touching any rash or
sores.”

The odd guidance invoked New York City’s bizarre recommendation
that sexually active people use “glory holes” during the
coronavirus pandemic to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The World Health Organization is investigating whether monkeypox
can be sexually transmitted after the virus was detected in a
patient’s semen.

The vast majority of the monkeypox cases in England were
connected to sexually active gay men, health officials said last
week.

There were 19 confirmed cases of the potentially serious virus
in New York City, officials said Thursday.

Patients experience a flu-like illness and swelling of the lymph
nodes before developing a rash on their face and body.

The virus is not nearly as contagious as COVID-19 and is
transmitted through bodily fluids and prolonged contact with
infected areas, the health department said.

Black and gay, you will pay.

https://nypost.com/2022/06/16/cdc-issues-bizarre-tips-for-sex-
while-having-monkeypox/

[HIV-AIDS now MONKEYPOX!]

In article <rutdli$1l5c$***@neodome.net>
***@panix.com (Bradley K. Sherman) wrote:

Oregon on Thursday reported its first likely monkeypox infection
and one of 99 identified nationally.

The person had traveled to a community with confirmed cases
before falling ill, the Oregon Health Authority said. Officials
are labeling the case as “probable” and are awaiting testing by
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for confirmation.

https://www.oregonlive.com/health/2022/06/oregon-identifies-its-
first-likely-monkeypox-infection.html

[HIV-AIDS now MONKEYPOX!]

In article <rv2919$scr$***@neodome.net>
***@panix.com (Bradley K. Sherman) wrote:

Since new outbreaks of monkeypox started making headlines across
the world, we have been receiving text messages non-stop. “If I
get monkeypox, will everyone know I am gay?” asked one friend in
the Gulf. Another who works for an NGO in Lebanon was unsure
whether to even share news about the disease, for fear of adding
to the already intense stigma experienced by gay people across
the country. We applaud the recent statement by UNAIDS
denouncing the “racist” and “homophobic” coverage of monkeypox,
but much more is needed as a lot is at stake here.

Let’s be clear upfront: monkeypox is very different from
HIV/AIDS. But as headlines link the disease to outbreaks among
men who have sex with men, the lessons we learned 40 years ago
about stigma and infectious diseases have come roaring back to
prominence.

As monkeypox moves towards the top of the international news
agenda, the world has a small window of time to get it right,
and prevent the same mistakes that fuelled HIV/AIDS-related
panic, fear and discrimination for over four decades.

So far, we are in danger of failing the test. Unlike 40 years
ago, thanks to social media, and 24-hour news coverage, any news
about monkeypox travels across the world in the blink of an eye.
And for now, news reports on the infectious disease are
suggesting a unique association between monkeypox and sexuality,
specifically an association between the virus and gay men or men
who have sex with men.

Yet there is nothing about the way this viral disease is
transmitted that is actually unique to gay men or men who have
sex with men. Monkeypox is transmitted through large respiratory
droplets via prolonged face-to-face contact, contact with bodily
fluids, or contaminated objects or surfaces. These transmissions
can occur between any two people – regardless of sexual
orientation or gender identity or any other identity.

Media coverage that clouds these simple facts is a threat to
everyone. Such coverage causes men who have sex with men to face
even more stigma while creating the false impression that
everyone else is somehow immune or not at risk. It’s a recipe
for disaster.

We have seen all this 40 years ago. Back then, early media
reports linking a new infectious disease to gay men raised
alarms and fed panic. Soon the disease was given a name rooted
in that panic: GRID, or gay-related immune deficiency.

Overlooked were the data and science showing that, while
identities may put certain communities at higher risk, it does
not mean that the virus infects these communities specifically.
In fact, we learned from HIV that the answer is tied closely to
conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age –
such as their financial status, education, neighbourhood and
physical environment, employment, and social support (aka social
determinants of health) rather than sexual or gender identities.

Today, we must learn that lesson quickly and ensure that the
conversation focuses on a public health approach to critically
synthesise social determinants of health that allow marginalised
communities to be at higher risk for the spread of such viruses.
To avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, we must take a step
back and consider a few important questions.

Does it help in any way to put a label on this disease at this
stage? In other words, does associating it with gay men or men
who have sex with men offer any help in curbing the spread of
this disease? Based on what we know about the way this disease
is spread, it seems very unlikely. In fact, if we learned one
thing from HIV/AIDS, it’s that infectious diseases – even if
they are sexually transmitted – never stay confined to one group
of people and eventually spread throughout the whole society.
The lesson is clear: it is counterproductive to segregate people
into sexual orientation silos in our approach to these diseases.
Because in reality, sexual orientation and behaviour are fluid,
and change over time. Further, stigma leads to people avoiding
healthcare services all together and in fact exacerbates the
problem.

Does it stigmatise gay men and men who have sex with men if we
make a connection between this disease and them? Yes, it does.
Even in Western countries, gay men and men who have sex with men
continue to face discrimination and poorer health outcomes
compared with their heterosexual counterparts. Associating a new
deadly disease with these groups will push them further behind.

More importantly, in countries where homosexuality is
criminalised, making the connection between monkeypox and
homosexuality can mean humiliation, imprisonment and even death.
In some cases, this association can be used as a way of “outing”
people (irrespective of whether it is true). In countries where
homosexuality is still criminalised, such an outing can be a
death sentence.

So what should we do?

First, it is essential that we proceed with extreme caution as
we learn more about this disease and as we fight it together.
Labels and judgements have no place in healthcare and should not
be what is leading this conversation. What is needed at this
point is to focus on the facts and the science: with clear
messages about the symptoms, transmission, prevention and
treatment.

Second, we should ensure that resources, not stigma, are
directed to communities that are on the front lines of the
disease. Marginalised groups such as gay men or men who have sex
with men are more prone to adverse health outcomes because of
social disadvantages, continued victimisation, and
discrimination. More resources will help level the playing
field, so these communities can stop the spread. This includes
fact-based public health campaigns along with ample testing
programmes when there is confirmed exposure of the presence of
symptoms.

Third, Western countries and the World Health Organization (WHO)
have a responsibility to ensure that their messaging takes into
account the safety and security of LGBTQ people all over the
world, especially in places where they are the least safe. The
media landscape is very different from 40 years ago, with
information instantly travelling across the globe, and
information that seems benign in the West can be very damaging
in certain parts of the world.

Finally, interventions that further stigmatise communities –
such as closing gay saunas or cancelling gay events – must be
condemned. These will not solve the issue; instead, they will
feed hate and lose time while the virus is transmitted in other
spaces. Following the evidence and learning from our experiences
is the only way forward. Believing that we can learn from our
most recent pandemic and transferring what we know to dealing
with monkeypox is key. We are all tired and traumatised for the
last couple of years, we need to use the public health measures
that have worked and proceed with caution.

As monkeypox continues to rise on the news agenda, the world is
watching. We still have a chance to get it right. By proceeding
with caution, and focusing on data and science, we can make sure
that we fight the disease, not the people.

Black and gay, you will pay.

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/5/31/with-monkeypox-the-
world-must-heed-the-lessons-of-hiv